A Palestinian security court sentenced to death a Palestinian...

A Palestinian security court sentenced to death a Palestinian human rights worker in a one-day trial, finding he had supplied Israel with information that led to the killing of militants, Reuters reported. Khaidar Ghanem, a former field worker in Gaza Strip for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and a resident of Rafah, was convicted of helping Israel kill four Fatah activists in Rafah. The 39-year-old father of two pleaded guilty to collaborating, but denied involvement in the killings. He is the fourth Palestinian to receive the death sentence in recent weeks. Prosecutor Wael Zakut told the court Ghanem was recruited as an informer in 1996. He was arrested last July by the Preventive Security Service on charges of collaboration with Israel. "In the name of God and the Palestinian people, the court sentences the defendant to death by firing squad for collaborating with the enemy by providing information that led to the assassination of Palestinian fighters," the court said. B'Tselem, which investigates Israel's treatment of Palestinians in areas it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, said in July that Ghanem had been collecting testimony from residents of the southern Gazan town of Rafah for 10 months. Sources in B'tselem told The Jerusalem Post Monday night that the PA was not happy with Ghanem's work because he had "started asking too many questions that embarrassed PA officials." A statement issued by the organization a few days after the arrest said: "B'tselem is deeply concerned that Ghanem was arrested because of his work with the organization. B'tselem also fears that the purpose of his arrest is to deter human rights workers from carrying out their work honestly and with the intention of uncovering the truth. B'tselem is concerned that torture is being used in Ghanem's interrogation." B'tselem strongly rejected any accusation that Ghanem was a collaborator. Ghanem told the court that he had confessed of his own free will because he had hoped to work as a double agent. There was a thunderous applause in the courtroom when the president of the court read out the verdict. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's approval is needed before the death sentence can be carried out.